Things I Love Thursday

Hello everyone! How was your abbreviated work week? Mine was lovely, thanks very much– in fact TiLT is sort of hefty this week, I’m feeling effusive. Not to keep you in suspense…!

Helping my friends plan their weddings. We’re all busy people, so seeing two of my favorite ladies on a regular basis is difficult. That’s why I’m so stoked to be part of helping plan the upcoming nuptials: because it gives me built-in, guilt-free excuses to drive all over creation & hang out! I love these girls, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them, so to be involved is a big honking cheesy honor! Plus, weddings being what they are, it’s a lot of fun. I swear, though, I could never keep it all straight. I’m wearing out my Molskine & it’s not even my party! The two ladies couldn’t be more different, so there’s definitely no monotony– & being that my college internship was planning a 200 person dinner… I’d like to think I come in handy. Hooray for love, love, love!

Maintaining my goals. Improving your life is hard to do, and keeping with New Years resolutions is even harder. With that much built up on a really meaningless symbol, it can be even more crushing to fail– I am a firm believer in change as you need it, not on a holiday schedule. But this year, despite my New England cynicism, I’ve been doing quite well. That’s not to say I’ve reached every goal, every day; allowing yourself the room to fail & forgiving yourself for it plays a big part in changing overall habits. But I’ve been stretching daily, blogging often, drinking more water & eating 3 meals (nearly) every day. Gretchen Rubin from The Happiness Project said it best: don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Kittens! My aunt & uncle just got a new kitten! Her name is Traitor (but they call her Tray). This is because my uncle Rob, who is pretty much amazing all around, got the kitten as a surprise for my aunt, knowing that she wanted one. And, of course, my uncle is little Traitor’s favorite– hence her silly name. She is “bleached calico”, which only means she’s calico, but lighter than most. I was surprised to hear they got a cat, because they already own two (very spoiled) birds, a parakeet named Twinkie and evil Meyer’s parrot called Jeepers. (My brother & I taught Jeeps to say ‘here, kitty kitty!’ back when such a thing was amusing (okay, still amusing) so I’ll feel pretty guilty if the bird ends up on the lunch menu. But the look on my uncle’s face when he heard the bird say that! Worth it.)

Momentum for the sake of momentum. Everyone knows the economy is crashing hard, and the logical extension of that is that schools are bound to take a huge hit financially over the next 2-3 years. No one is more aware of that than a teacher in her first year at a job, because in Massachusetts you don’t achieve professional status until the end of year 3. I’m quite proud of myself: despite many reasons to fret, I am not doing it. Nothing final for the budget is decided, and no one has said to worry, and so I’m just… Not. This is pretty major, because I’m the world’s more prolific worrywart, ask anyone. I’m planning my projects, doing my thing– if I get derailed, then so be it. I’ll take it as my wink from the universe to shake it up & step outside my comfort zone.